BubbleStream

Marcha A Fox

A Dark of Endless Days

Synopsis

Cyraria is a hostile world with weather extremes beyond imagination. With Opposition, the worst of the heat season on the way, Dirck Brightstar and his father, Laren take on the challenge of preparing their primitive shelter to withstand the hostile environment. Their attempt to build a heat exchanger (air conditioner) to maintain a survivable temperature is interrupted by Laren’s arrest in a midnight raid followed by incarceration as a political prisoner as part of Augustus Troy’s Integration recruiting efforts. Dirck is thus left on his own to fend for his family, more separated now than ever before. His friend, Win, proves to be a valuable ally though his little brother, Deven, becomes the real hero thanks to his strange alliance with an indigenous race known as the bnolar.
Creena, another family member previously separated from the family, experiences increasing trouble as well when she and her ‘troid, Aggie and vegemal, Thyron, land on a planet seeking a more capable vehicle for the trip back to the family's homeworld to obtain assistance. Instead of helping, authorities impound their ship and separate them as targets for government scrutiny and investigation. Integrator attempts to abduct her continue, the evil purpose of which she senses but doesn’t understand. With no other choice but to adapt to a primitive and alien lifestyle, when it comes time to leave she discovers she’s grown more attached to this backward world than she ever thought possible.

Author Biography

Marcha Fox’s passion for science fiction began as a child. Her determination to write in that genre knew no bounds, such that she even went back to college in her 30s to obtain a bachelor’s of science degree in physics, after which she spent over 20 years working at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Science and engineering experience notwithstanding, it’s the unexplained mysteries of the cosmos, such as the concept of a universal consciousness, which provide the setting for Beyond the Hidden Sky, first volume of a four-part series. Centered on the Brightstar family who has been torn apart by a storm of political and scientific intrigue, they will stop at nothing until they are reunited.

Author Insight

How Does it Work?

How many devices in today’s world do you take for granted? Your cell phone? Television? Transportation? What about something even more fundamental like air conditioning?
I live in Texas where temperatures up to 108 degrees and sometimes higher for days on end are commonplace. I can’t imagine how people survived here without it but they did.
But a hundred degrees is nothing compared to what the Brightstars are facing on Cyraria where temperatures can reach over 200 degrees for longer than an Earth year. Air conditioning is not a luxury, it’s required for survival and their primitive shelter doesn’t have one. They have only one choice: Build one themselves.
But how?
Do you have any idea how an air conditioner works? In this story it’s called a heat exchanger which is its official name based on its function. Could you build one if your life depended on it? There’s a saying that “Necessity is the Mother of Invention.”
But you need to know the basic scientific principles first. Do you?

Book Excerpt

A Dark of Endless Days

Probability

Sigma3/Epsilon

After the morning meal Dirck roamed around the ballome as if movement could speed Zinni’s course to its lowest declination, cooling it down enough to resume work outside, at least until Zeta‘s position elevated enough to start the cycle again. He’d long since disposed of his old anoia uniform for some simple lightweight clothes he’d found on the trade table at the SD but his hair had gotten horrifically long and he felt like a slob. He glanced at ‘Merama, working on the latest information for the Barterboard.

“Hey, ‘Merama, how ‘bout a haircut?”

She didn’t even look up. “I can’t. I traded off the clippers before you and your father got back from Verdaris.”

Various implications lurked behind her works and his gut tightened. “So you can’t cut our hair anymore?”

“Not until we can afford another pair.”

“Holy holocubes, ‘Merama—.“ He stopped in mid-gripe cringing at another self-imposed reminder of his part in Creena’s disappearance. Eventually new frustrations invaded his thoughts until, tired of pacing, he sat down by the comcon and called up their account. He smiled as he viewed the latest transaction: =C20C= from Jen Brightstar for a “wager.” Deven and ‘Merama had posted The Regionists' Guide to Edible Plants on the bulletin board four days before, and already they’d brought in =C700C=.

And that wasn’t all. Win had found him several water-tight containers and every day he filled at least three and took them to the SD. So far he hadn’t had any trouble getting =C150C= per liter. Their total for all trading was =C15700C= and growing.

That was the good news.

The bad news was that his father had finally settled on a preliminary design for the heat exchanger. His original expectations had been too optimistic. They’d be lucky if they could maintain an inside temperature of 37C/99F, which represented a delta-T, or difference in temperature, of 64C/115F from the average outdoor High Opps temperature, which sounded impressive except the majority was coming from the ballome’s climate control system. How much they could depend on it not to degrade when its limits of 66C/150F were exceeded was unknown with it possible it could fail entirely, in which case they’d be dead.

Even the slight but critical reduction the heat exchanger could achieve would require a duty cycle of a hundred percent, meaning it would be running constantly, which of course required more power plus put more stress on the components. They’d use hydrated ammonia as the working fluid in what was called an absorption heat removal system. But even with the compromised temperatures, they had to have a compressor. The system couldn’t keep up with the relentless heat load without it.

So far the listing of parts and components they needed had over a hundred line items and amounted to an expected cost of over =C60000C=s. At the rate they were rolling in, thirty days before High Opps, which would barely allow time for the actual construction, they’d have approximately =C32500C=.

He had no idea how they’d make up the difference. Another =C225C's= came in as he watched, from a liter of water and one Guide. Maybe sales would pick up. And maybe they wouldn’t.

‘Merapa had decided to accumulate enough credits to buy the compressor first. There was only one at the SD and he was afraid someone else would get it first. Win had hidden it in the back, but that was still no guarantee. The remaining parts were relatively simple.

‘Merapa had explained how the system worked so many times he knew it by heart. It was all a matter of transferring heat energy from one place to another. Liquid ammonia would absorb the heat in a network of pipes. The hot liquid would flow to larger tubing, where reduced pressure would allow it to evaporate, storing the energy in a gaseous state. A fan would cool the tubing, the working fluid would change phases again by condensing back to a liquid, and this time release energy which the fan would dissipate. Then the compressor would re-pressurize the liquid, and it would start the cycle again.

It was deceptively simple. And awesomely hard. In fact, their predicament illustrated why the interface between science and engineering, i.e., theory and application, had tried men’s ingenuity since time began with there typically a wide gap between the two.

At least he was going to meet Win when he got off work at the SD. He wasn’t sure what they were going to do but it was still a break and visiting with someone around his own age sounded great, even though it would definitely cut into what was supposed to be his sleepzone. He knew Win had gone to a Miran academy, had worked at the SD since the settlement was organized, and that was it.